Themes for Argument Analysis

By Abhi Tom on Jan 18, 2012 with Comments 0

Here is an example of an Argument prompt that is similar to many of the ones in the official pool. The standard directive follows the quoted argument.

“The best way to reverse Aura Cosmetic’s recent decline in profitability is to require each new employee in Aura’s sales division to enroll in the popular SureSale seminar. Last year, the software company TechAide began incorporating SureSale’s week-long seminar into its training program for all new sales employees, and since that time TechAide’s total sales have increased dramatically. Also, according to a recent article in a reputable business magazine, the SureSale sales system has been widely adopted among the nation’s twenty largest companies, and the employee turnover rate at these companies is lower today than five years ago. Therefore, by enrolling Aura sales employees in the SureSale seminar Aura will also retain its highest caliber salespeople.”

Discuss how logically convincing you find this argument. In your discussion, you should analyze the argument’s line of reasoning and use of evidence. It may be appropriate in your critique to call into question certain assumptions underlying the argument and/or to indicate what evidence might weaken or strengthen the argument. It may also be appropriate to discuss how you would alter the argument to make it more convincing and/or discuss what additional evidence, if any, would aid in evaluating the argument.